WJLE Project Graduation Radiothon Friday, April 2

March 17, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

A WJLE Radiothon to raise money for the DCHS Class of 2021 Project Graduation will be Friday, April 2 from 9:00 a.m. until noon.

The radiothon will be hosted by DCHS teacher Chris Vance.

High school seniors and parents on the Project Graduation committee will be answering phones, taking pledges during the drive. Any member of the Class of 2021 is urged to stop by the station to make an appearance on the radiothon to talk about their school activities and future plans.

Last year’s event raised a record breaking $11, 609 for the 2020 Project Graduation event.

Project Graduation is an all night drug-free, alcohol-free graduation party for members of the DCHS Class of 2021 committed to having a safe, wholesome, yet entertaining celebration together for the last time as a class. The event begins following the graduation ceremony on Friday, May 14.

Call 615-597-4265 during the Radiothon to make your pledge from 9:00 a.m. until noon on Friday, April 2. Listen LIVE on FM 101.7/AM 1480 and LIVE streaming at www.wjle.com.

March 16, 2021
By:

The Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree Board and 50th Anniversary Planning Committee is making plans to publish and release a commemorative book featuring “50 Years of the Jamboree” in honor of the 50th Anniversary Celebration coming July 2-3, 2021 to the historical Smithville Public Square. This limited edition book will include highlights and history, along with behind the scenes documents, photos and letters giving readers a behind the scenes look at the early beginnings of the festival. In addition, past champions, emcees, and significant figures from the past will give a glimpse into their experiences throughout the years.

“This will be a treasure to anyone that has been a long-time fan of the Jamboree. We hope to give our community the first opportunity to reserve their copy in advance, before the limited quantities are released to the general public,” said Sam Stout, President & Coordinator of the Jamboree, “This is a project that we are very excited about, as we have not had a commemorative book of any kind available for many years. We are glad to capture this piece of history, and grateful to board member Carol Williams for taking the first steps to make this project possible; along with the family of James G. Bobo Driver (a founding father of the Jamboree) by providing a donation to help with research and design. In addition to the book, we are also considering the release of a 50th Anniversary collectible pocket knife to remember this special year in the Jamboree’s history. We will have more information on our Jamboree website page as ordering details are released.”

“When I let my family know of the possibility of a commemorative book of Jamboree history, they immediately wanted to support the project,” said Kim Driver-Luton, board member and founding family of James G. Bobo Driver, “Thanks to the Driver Family, funds for research are now in place to make this book a reality, and we hope to honor those who came before us to create this beautiful legacy in a festival that we get to enjoy year after year.”

The Jamboree Board is asking the community for help. We are asking for all historical photos that anyone might have, that could be considered for the book, to be emailed to: SmithvilleJamboree@gmail.com. Please include names/dates/description of each photo (.jpeg file) if available along with your name and phone number. In addition, if anyone has a past year’s souvenir book – especially 1972-1980 – or any unusual items to contribute, the Jamboree would like to borrow these items for use in the project. Please drop off any items to the Smithville-DeKalb Chamber of Commerce in the DeKalb County Complex Building on South Congress Blvd.

If you would like to join the 50th Anniversary Planning Committee, or for more information, email smithvillejamboree@gmail.com or contact the Jamboree office at 615-597-8500.

March 16, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County to the rescue!

An increase in DeKalb County swift water rescues in recent years, including two just last month, has prompted the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad to seek additional funds from the county in forming a Swift Water Rescue Task Force.

The task force, to be led by the Rescue Squad, would also include volunteers from the DeKalb County, Smithville and Alexandria Volunteer Fire Departments and possibly local law enforcement officers and others who would be specially trained and equipped for swift water rescues.

During a meeting of the County Commission’s Health, Education & Public Welfare Committee Monday night, Rescue Squad Captain Dustin Johnson asked that the committee recommend to the county commission a funding allocation of $18,000 to equip and train 15 people for this task force and that action be taken as soon as possible so as not to miss area training opportunities for this year. The committee voted 6-0 to send the request on to the full county commission for funding. Those voting in favor were Myron Rhody, Anita Puckett, Jenny Trapp, Julie Young, Matt Adcock, and Beth Pafford.

Although the Rescue Squad, made up of volunteers, is a non-profit organization and not an entity of county government, it receives an annual contribution from the county of $26,000 for its services which includes searching for drowning victims, cave/rope rescues and searches for missing persons, etc. But in most cases, neither the rescue squad members nor volunteer firefighters and other emergency first responders locally are specially trained in water rescues. This additional $18,000 contribution from the county to the rescue squad would be earmarked just for this special training and equipment.

Johnson said he got the idea of forming a local task force after last month’s water rescue at Liberty where five people including a 16 month old child were trapped in their pickup truck amid rushing creek water. Although help came from several different sources, Johnson took special notice of the joint effort and teamwork between the Lebanon and Wilson County forces.

“One of the agencies we called was WEMA (Wilson County Emergency Management Agency) and when they showed up Lebanon was with them. Lebanon and WEMA go in together as a team. I thought that is not a bad idea so I reached out to County Fire Chief Donny Green, Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker, and the Alexandria Fire Department to maybe allow some of their members to come and take this training with us because I don’t know if the Rescue Squad will have the personnel to do this but this is something I would like to get started here,” said Captain Johnson.

DeKalb County Emergency Management Agency Director and Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker said the task force is needed because flooding, especially flash flooding has happened, and can happen almost anywhere.

“We have already encountered this in the city including in front of Walmart, at Fall Creek, and other places. Although we (Smithville Fire Department) are in the fire business we are also in the rescue business and we sometimes have car wrecks in the edge of the water that we have to get to but you just can’t jump into this (water rescue operation) a little bit. You must have the equipment before the training. We want to combine our resources and do this altogether. I don’t have enough guys (firefighters) to do an effective swift water rescue. It’s the same with Dusty (Rescue Squad). Like me he may not have enough trained people. I know it’s the same way with Donny (County Fire Department). It’s hard enough to get people on fire calls sometimes. That was our thought of putting everybody (departments) together to do this and that is the reason we are all coming to you (county) asking for money because we need a pocket for it (funding) to come from to where we can get these people trained so we can get at least 15 and more later,” said Chief Parker.

Donny Green, DeKalb County Fire Chief, said a trained and equipped water rescue task force would help save lives by being ready at a moment’s notice to spring into action when needed and it would make more sense to have team working together than for each department trying to go it alone.

“We had two (swift water rescues) in the same week last month at the same place behind the West School and I think back to when Officer Joe Bowen lost his life in a wreck at a creek in Dowelltown. We probably could not have done anything to change the outcome of that one but still we had no equipment or personnel trained to do anything had we could have done something. One of the worst things you can do is get called to something and have to stand there and wait for an hour for somebody to come from Cookeville, Lebanon, or wherever to help you. It really hit home to me last month when I stood there 20 feet away looking at a truck where five people including a child were trapped and I couldn’t do anything about it until we got someone here from Lebanon and Cookeville. That’s tough to take when you see the back end of a truck floating knowing that it could capsize at anytime. To me that was the point where I decided this was enough and that we needed to stop talking about this and to do something about it. I believe whatever it takes to pull together all our resources and have one team we need to do it because it will save the county money and its more responsible to the tax payer to operate it as one unit,” said Chief Green.

John Partridge, Assistant Alexandria Fire Chief, who is already certified in water rescue, said the training is highly technical and intensive and involves much skill and discipline. Not everyone qualifies. Physical fitness is important.

“Eighteen of the 20 initial hours of training is in the water swimming probably. Firefighting is physical but this training is above and beyond that. It will take all the agencies in the county to make this happen to put 15, 20 or 25 people through that training. Its good to start this but you have to continue to push it. If you don’t train on it multiple years every year it’s a skill you will lose. A lot of work and time goes into it. Its highly technical. Its up there with rope rescue, hazmat, confined space, trench rescue and other technical rescues and highly specialized disciplines,” said Assistant Chief Partridge.